Kidnapped Boy, 5, Found Near S.F. Bus Terminal

1998-08-11 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- A 5-year-old boy kidnapped in Fresno was found safe near the Transbay Terminal yesterday after apparently being abandoned by the suspect.

Police said they are looking for Patrick Daniel Stone, 21, in connection with the kidnapping of the boy, Bradley Warns.

Authorities suspect that Stone, of Eugene, Ore., was hitchhiking Saturday morning on Interstate 80 in Utah near the Nevada border when the boy's father, 54-year-old Gary Block of South Dakota, picked him up.

The three arrived later that day in the Fresno area, where the father tends bees, authorities said.

On Sunday, Block was working his bees along with Stone and the boy, authorities said. The father told police that he left the child with the man for 30 minutes and returned to find both gone.

A passer-by found the boy inside his father's Chevrolet van about 12:30 p.m. yesterday on Fremont Street near the Transbay Terminal. He was in good condition.

Stone was already wanted for a parole violation in Oregon, authorities said.

"He is a car thief and burglar, he had just done prison time in Colorado," said Sergeant Jose Flores of Fresno County Sheriff's Department.

Stone told the father and son that his name was Jason, authorities said. Police found evidence in Utah that led them to believe Stone was the man they were looking for in connection with the kidnapping.